Being awarded the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games was considered a big deal for Toronto but nothing heightens the spectacle of a major international sporting event like the unveiling of the obligatory mascot. That’s why the CBC lobby on Front Street was awash in colourful balloons, hundreds of adults and children in karate outfits on Wednesday. It was time to reveal which creature had been chosen from a contest that attracted more than 4,000 entries. The National Post’s Jessica Vitullo was there.

2:25 CBC Sports announcers Scott Russell and Carly Agro take the stage and ask the crowd, “How many people love mascots?” The audience cheers, “Yeah!” (Fortunately, they seem to have forgotten the terrifying one-eyed mascots from the London Olympics.)

2:28 The winner has yet to make its appearance, but a group of children in white karate uniforms takes the stage and performs a routine of air punching while the song “Inner Ninja” blares through the speakers.

2:31 The air having been sufficiently punched, it is time to reveal the 2015 Pan Am mascot. It is …. wait for it …. a porcupine named Pachi! Pachi (pronounced patchy) dances onto the stage wearing a yellow hat but no pants. The seemingly androgynous creature has 41 multi-coloured quills on its back, each one representing the qualities of the Pan Am Games: green for youth, fuchsia for passion, blue for collaboration, orange for determination and purple for creativity.

2:40 Pachi finishes dancing to “Inner Ninja” while balloons fall from the ceiling, but as children wait to catch the falling balloons, Pachi leaves the stage. Can’t blame Pachi. Quills and balloons don’t go well together.

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3:00 Mr. Russell tells a gathering of media the Games will be even larger than the Vancouver Olympics, with 7,500 athletes from 41 countries.

3:15 Ontario Minister of Tourism and Culture Michael Chan congratulates the Grade 8 girls who won the mascot challege. Fiona Hong, 13, Michelle Ing, 13, Paige Kunihiro, 14 and Jenny Lee, 13, attend Buttonville Public School in Markham. “The school is in my neighbourhood,” says Mr. Chan. “It’s located in my riding!” He laughs at the coincidence. The crowd of media laughs with him.

3:20 Pachi the Porcupine makes his second appearance of the afternoon and poses for pictures with the artists who gave him life. Apparently Pachi knows how to dance, but doesn’t know how to speak.

3:30 Teacher Mari Ellery says she encouraged her students to participate in the contest and explains that “pachi” means a pleasant clapping sound, in Japanese. That’s how the porcupine got its name — the pleasant clapping part, not the Japanese part, since Japan is not a Pan Am country. The girls picked a porcupine because the spiky critters live in all Pan American countries. Ms. Ellery reveals that Pachi is a girl and a boxer, but she doesn’t wear pants because real porcupines don’t wear pants. Pachi will now tour the province to promote the 2015 Games. Pleasant clapping would be the most appropriate greeting.